It’s been a long time coming, but I’m being told that Terrence Malick is finally done editing “The Way of the Wind,” and, of course, now rumors of a Venice premiere are starting to heat up.
Earlier in the year, separate sources were telling me that Malick was very close to being done in shaping his upcoming film, there was an end in sight, and that work would continue on it until, at least, August — that’s when ADR and the final stages of mixing occur. In other words, Venice is an option to premiere this one.
In April, Géza Röhrig, who plays Jesus in Malick’s biblical epic, hinted that the film would only premiere at Cannes 2025. Malick has been editing the film, which was shot in 2019, for close to five years now. He also, supposedly, shot close to 3000 hours of footage.
Röhrig’s comments is the reason why I still have my doubts, despite these new rumors, that we’ll get to see the film in 2024. It is, of course, still a possibility, even after Röhrig’s comments, that Malick has changed his mind and decided to premiere it at Venice instead of Cannes. He’s done that before. There’s no reason to think it can’t happen again, especially based on what I’m hearing at the moment.
“The Way of the Wind,” which is said to be three hours long, conveys passages “in the life of Christ” through the representation of evangelical parables. Jesus Christ's descent into the world of the dead, also known as his “descent into hades,” rumored to be one of the parables included in the film. The cast includes the likes of Matthias Schoenaerts (as Saint Peter), Röhrig (as Jesus), Ben Kingsley, Joseph Fiennes, and Mark Rylance (as Satan).
Malick first hoped to make the film in the ‘90s with Disney and a large budget, but quickly departed the project when the studio wouldn’t give him final cut; he then embarked in shooting “The Thin Red Line”.
In the meantime, I’ve been also hearing that Malick, 80, is eyeing to shoot another smaller-scaled film in his home state of Texas, possibly at the end of the year. No other details were given to me.
Of course, we all know the rule: take these reactions with a grain of salt rather than treating them as gospel. Still, I will say that the film tested like gangbusters earlier this year, and Lionsgate clearly has confidence.